The middle of November was a mixture of weather and conditions – cool, drizzly, foggy, windy, and some sunshine.    Most of the hikes were in the 1-2 hour range.    There were few people out hiking these less well-known routes – the East Rim route of Peterson Creek, the Wallender Hills, and Sunset Ridge from the southwest.    These were all routes I knew and looked forward to doing again.

On a day with rain before and after the hike, I chose to hike a nearby trail in Peterson Creek Park.   The East Rim route starts on the Whiteshield Crescent Trail and goes along a series of trails – Mariposa, Bill Miner, across Peterson Creek, along the east rim of the canyon, then a parallel loop back to the creek and back to Mariposa.    On other days, I can turn onto the Tower Hill trails, or I can drop down to the Falls Lookout and to the bottom and back up Tom Moore.    This was a quiet hike with no one on the east side.    the ground was wet, but not muddy.    I finished the hike before the rains started again.     A few images are shared here.    Click an image for a  lightbox (larger) view and a caption.

Mariposa Trail

the route

the view to the north

creek crossing

the gorge

Mariposa Trail

on the East Rim

The Wallender Hills are an extension of the Ironmask Hills.    Many of the trails are now decommissioned so I followed some old tracks, hiked some cross-country routes, and added some exploration.

Roadrunner trail

sagebrush grasslands track

Wallender Lake from the north

Wallender Hills

an old homestead

the route for this day

On a morning with a bit of fresh snow, but mild weather.    I started at the southwest end of Sunset Ridge and followed a known route of faint trails up to the Sunset Trail, the westernmost ridge of Kenna Cartwright Park.

The view at the end is always worth the hike, looking out toward Kamloops Lake.

I crossed the pipeline track and returned by another route, with a combination of trails, a cross-country traverse, and a double track.

Each day is a different route and a different hiking exploration, with a few weeks left before we start to snowshoe.